


Advocacy

by HeartHeart314



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartHeart314/pseuds/HeartHeart314
Summary: It's three years after the Battle of Hogwarts.Hermione has been working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She is fighting for house elf rights and the rights of other non-human magical creatures.A canon-compliant one-shot.
Kudos: 5





	Advocacy

Hermione Granger had been working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for the last two years, her first job after graduating from Hogwarts. Many of her classmates had been surprised a witch as academically talented as Hermione Granger would settle for a job in administration, especially in a department with such low status. But Hermione was a witch on a mission. She was continuing the work she had started when she was fifteen, when she had founded the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. She still had her S.P.E.W badge and kept it stored in her desk drawer. Working at the Ministry didn’t always feel rewarding and she occasionally needed a reminder of how far she had come. Although Hermione was much more at home brewing potions and casting enchantments, she had come a long way in the last two years, and was as adept as anyone at securing alliances, passing bills and understanding the complex inner workings of the Ministry. Things would have been more difficult if Shacklebolt hadn’t been in charge, of course. Several of the most egregious obstacles for political reform had been removed early in Shacklebolt’s time as Minister of Magic, but there was still so much to do.

“Hermione!” said Gethsemane Prickle as she sat down in one of the two empty chairs in front of Hermione’s desk.

“Hi Boss,” replied Hermione a little more quietly. There were three others that worked in the open plan office space along with Gethsemane and Hermione, and she tried to be a bit more considerate to her colleagues.

“I’ve moved our meeting with the Legislative Assembly from next week to tomorrow, I assume that won’t be an issue?” said Gethsemane sternly.

Hermione looked at the grey-haired witch and nodded. “Not at all, I have the drafts here, they just need to be written up in the formal docu-”

“Seemey!” interrupted Gethsemane. A tiny creature dressed in a faded pillow case appeared, standing next to Gethsemane. “I’ll get my house-elf to do it,” said Gethsemane, “I need you to catch up on the paper work for Theia’s case before tomorrow.” Turning to Seemey, Gethsemane continued, “Seemey, write up these drafts as formal bills ready for submission to the Legislative Assembly. Don’t leave until you’ve finished”.

Hermione sighed and gathered the books scattered around the desk into a single stack to make some space for Seemey. Hermione would rather not use house-elf labour if she could help it, but she had learnt a long time ago to pick her battles.

Seemey went straight to work, right at Hermione’s desk. She had to stand on the empty chair to reach the top of the desk and pulled the drafts towards herself as the parchment used for formal bills materialised in front of her.

“That one looks a bit out of place” commented Gethsemane distractedly, pointing at the only children’s book in the stack of mostly magical creature and magical law books.

“It’s Dumbledore’s old copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. He left it to me after he died. It’s written in runes and I’ve been meaning to translate it for a while now. There’s a lot of wisdom in these old stories. I’ve read it so many times now that I practically know it off by heart. Still, it never fails to give me a warm feeling.”

“I never did see the point in studying such ancient things. Better to live in the present I say. Anyway, can we go over the plan again for tomorrow?”

“Well,” said Hermione, collecting her thoughts, “We have two bills relating to the sovereignty of house-elves. The first dictates that all house-elves currently _owned_ by a wizarding family will be granted freedom -”

Gethsemane snorted loudly.

Hermione noticed that Seemey’s writing hand had begun shake quite severely and that there was a long black line where the quill had marked diagonally across the page.

“Careful!” criticised Gethsemane.

Seemey ran a shaky finger along the blemish, the ink disappearing as she did so.

“Gethy wants Seemey to be free?” squeaked Seemey in a tiny voice.

“Don’t worry Seemey, I’m not letting you go that easily” said Gethsemane, turning to give Hermione a careful look, “ _right_?”.

“Yes, well, we don’t actually expect that bill to pass. The plan is to make the first bill so outrageous that the second bill appears reasonable in comparison.”

“But there is still a chance Seemey might be made free?” asked Seemey in a shrill. Her hand was still shaking, and her writing had become almost illegible.

“You can stop writing!” said Hermione, but the house-elf continued. “Please!” Hermione said to Gethsemane, “Let her stop! Look how distressed she is!”.

Gethsemane looked over at her house-elf. “Oh, very well then, you can stop writing that Seemey”.

Seemey put the quill down and looked up to meet Hermione’s eyes. “But what if that bill does pass?”.

“Then I would be several years ahead of schedule. Unfortunately I don’t think there is much chance of it passing” replied Hermione. Seemey did not look relieved in the slightest.

Gethsemane looked at the clock on the wall. “And the second bill Hermione?”.

“The second bill would allow house-elves in severe distress to apply to the ministry for reallocation, on the condition of exceptional circumstances as determined by the ministry.”

“I think we have a good chance of getting this one through” said Gethsemane, “No one thinks that their house-elf is in distress”.

Hermione remained quiet, her lips forming a straight line.

“Excellent,” remarked Gethsemane as she stood up to leave. “You’ll have to finish writing up these bills yourself Miss ‘House-Elf Rights’. And don’t forget to prepare Theia’s paperwork as well”.

Gethsemane walked off leaving Hermione looking at a very frightened house-elf.

Seemey raised a slightly shaking hand and clicked her fingers, disapparating from the office.

Hermione sighed to herself. Still so much to do.

…

Seemey paced up and down the crawl space in the roof. She should have felt pleased. She had cleaned Prickle Manor, cooked a big meal for everyone and tidied up the kitchen afterwards. Her masters were preparing for bed and everything was as it should be. Except that it wasn’t. Seemey had always felt secure in her position with the Prickle family. Her masters would never get rid of a useful and obedient house-elf, and she worked very hard to be those things and more. But now there was a new threat. It had never occurred to Seemey that the Ministry had the power to take her away from her masters. Now that she knew, it was all that she could think about. Her body trembled with anxiety. Hermione had said that the first bill wouldn’t pass, but Hermione wanted all house-elves to be free. Hermione couldn’t be trusted. Seemey had never had a problem like this before. House-elves were given tasks that they could do. What would be the point of telling a house-elf do something that they didn’t know how to do? This was different. No one had told her she needed to do something. And yet she had never felt a stronger impulse to act in her whole life.

…

At ten in the evening, Hermione Granger was the only person left in the office. She had finished the paper work for Theia in the afternoon and had spent the evening writing out the formal bill documents. A small guilty part of her wished that Seemey had been able to write up the bills. She could have spent the last couple of hours relaxing over dinner with Ron. Much to her delight, he had been doing his fair share of the cooking recently, and while it was nowhere near the standards of Mrs Weasely’s cooking, she appreciated that he was taking on more of the labour that came with running a household.

Looking at the work on her desk, Hermione allowed herself to feel a moment of pride. It was so hard, doing this work. She had faced obstacles at every turn. And not just from witches and wizards in the Ministry. Many of the magical creatures she was trying to help often hindered her progress. The goblins and centaurs often resisted the interventions of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, even though the department was being run a lot better than it used to be. Still, at least they had self-respect. Dealing with house-elves was an exercise in futility. How was she supposed to liberate them when they had all been brainwashed for generations to be subservient to witches and wizards? She remembered that when she was a student at Hogwarts, she had naively knitted hats hoping that the house-elves would consider this _being given clothes_ and would be free. She had been more limited then and had tried to find a solution within the law. Better to be the one that creates the laws. That’s how to make systemic change. Hermione looked down at her desk and noticed Dumbledore’s battered edition of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. She often thought about Dumbledore and what he had said at Cedric’s funeral. _We must choose between what is easy and what is right_. She had always tried to choose what was right. She had insisted on treating Sirius’ house-elf Kreacher with respect, no matter how atrocious his behaviour towards her was. And in the end their kindness had turned Kreacher from an enemy into an ally. Doing the right thing meant treating people how you would want to be treated, if you were in their position. Hermione knew that she wouldn’t want to be a slave for a second longer than she had to be, and that she had to fight for the house-elves, who weren’t able to fight for themselves. There was a reason she had chosen Gryffindor all those years ago. She had wanted to be someone who fought for what was right, who could be brave, even when the world was against her. She remembered Dumbledore’s kindness to Dobby, who had suffered at the hands of the Malfoys. She imagined that Dumbledore would be approve of the work she was doing. Hermione was excited for tomorrow. If the second bill passed, it would give house-elves the agency to leave their masters. She knew that it wasn’t enough to rely on the agency of house-elves, and that her work would be far from done, but it was progress.

Hermione was shaken from her reverie by a load crack. In the middle of the quiet office had appeared a rather desperate looking Seemey.

“Hi Seemey, is everything all right?” asked a concerned Hermione. Did Gethsemane have more urgent work for her? It was already getting quite late.

“Seemey will stop you from submitting that bill!” cried Seemey, her eyes darting around the office.

“There’s really no need to be concerned about that Seemey,” replied Hermione, who thought she was starting to understand the situation. “There’s no chance that the Legislative Assembly will pass a law that grants all house-elves their freedom”.

“Hermione doesn’t care about house-elves! Hermione only cares about taking house-elves away from their masters!”.

“Seemey, I really do care about you, and all house-elves. All this work I’m doing is to protect you”.

Seemey raised a trembling hand and clicked her fingers.

Hermione was momentarily blinded by light. When her eyes adjusted, she could see that the contents on all five desks in the open plan office were on fire. Hermione quickly got her mind in order. She wasn’t in any danger, Seemey didn’t intend to hurt her. No one was going to be killed. _Or worse, expelled_ , she thought humorously as she remembered her younger self. She pointed her wand at a desk across the room and cast the Extinguishing Charm. In under a minute, all the fires had been put out. Walking over to her desk to see the damage, Hermione let out a gasp. Dumbledore’s copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ was now a charred block. Her mind raced as she tried to come up with a spell to reverse the damage, but she already knew that it was hopeless.

“You will not take Seemey away from her masters!” cried Seemey.

With a loud crack, Gethsemane apparated into the office.

“What on Earth…” gaped Gethsemane as she looked around the room.

Seemey looked genuinely afraid. She had gone too far. Was Gethy going to give her clothes?

“Gethy-” started the stricken house-elf but was cut short.

“It was my fault,” interrupted Hermione. “I was trying to light a candle on my desk when Seemey apparated into the office. I must have done some accidental magic in response to the surprise”.

“I would have thought that it wouldn’t be so easy to catch Miss Hermione Granger off guard, considering everything you’ve been through,” replied Gethsemane. “And why were you here Seemey?”.

Hermione spoke again before Seemey could respond. “I called her here. It was getting so late and I thought she might help me finish some things quickly.”

Gethsemane pursed her lips into a frown. “So, you called for her and then did accidental magic when you were surprised by her apparating here?”

“I-” started Hermione.

“Stop,” said Gethsemane cooly and paused for several moments before she continued, “I don’t even want to know”. She looked at the blacked remains of the items on Hermione’s desk. “I still need you to finish writing up the two bills before tomorrow morning.”

“Actually, I was thinking that we should just submit the second bill to the Legislative Assembly, the one that would allow distressed house-elves to apply for reallocation”.

Gethsemane narrowed her eyes at Hermione. She knew she wasn’t getting the full story, but she was too tired to care. “Fine”. She turned to her house-elf. “Seemey, stay and help Hermione clean up this mess” and with a quick turn, Gethsemane disapparated.

Hermione placed her wand on her desk and sat on the floor, facing the tiny house-elf. “I’m sorry I caused you so much distress Seemey. We won’t submit the first bill. Are you okay with me submitting the second bill, the one that would allow a house-elf to apply for reallocation?”.

Seemey stared wide eyed at the bushy-haired witch sitting in front of her. No one had ever asked for her permission before. After a few moments, she slowly nodded.

“Will you please help me clean up the desks?” asked a sad looking Hermione.

Seemey nodded again and moved to a desk across the room to get started.

Hermione looked up from her sitting position and saw the blackened remains of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. She put her head in her hands and cried silently.


End file.
